Pistes d'exploration

Discuss rules for handling books at home, at school and at the library. Why do we have these rules? What are the possible consequences of breaking them?

Notice the use of punctuation in the speech bubbles. Read the dialogue with appropriate expression.

What does Louie learn about messes and perfection? Make a poster featuring a piece of advice you gleaned from the book.

Write your own story in the same style. Draw a short comic strip that involves a mess of some kind.

Choral read the story using the appropriate intonation for each expression.

On a class list, sort out the expressions according to their meaning (hope, encouragement, discouragement, surprise, anger, etc.). Discuss other situations where you could use these expressions. Practise them in short skits with a partner.

Discuss the importance of keeping books, notebooks, desk and other personal and school effects neat and tidy. How does it affect the way you work and how others perceive your work? How is creativity or efficiency impacted?

Imagine a situation that is similar to the story. Draw a short comic strip that involves a mess of some kind. Include expressions from the list.

Postmodern picture books use devices that interrupt reader expectations through multimodal elements such as photography and drawings. Here, a competing narrative voice, rendered through image, asks the reader to consider alternate meanings.

In a small book club or response groups, discuss the text elements that stand out. Discuss the way these devices contribute to an interpretation of the narrative.

Introduce students to the response process by using open-ended questions to elicit student-centred discussion about texts. After reading and discussion in whole and small groups, write a response to the text.

Discuss both titles (original and the crayoned modification). What can you infer about this story from the illustrations? What is the meaning of the expression on the back cover?

Who do you think is responsible for “messing up” the book? How do you relate to Louie? Discuss your feelings with a partner. Draw yourself in the centre of a page, with dialogue bubbles to answer these questions (like the author did).

Write a short opinion text about learning from your mistakes. How is it a good or bad thing?

Beautiful Oops!, Chester, Battle Bunny

Mots-clés

Picture book , accidents , anxiety , books , cleanliness , metafiction , overcoming adversity , perseverance , storytelling

Commentaire descriptif

Anyone who’s struggled with messes and mistakes in their own work will sympathize with Louie’s problem. He’s trying to tell his story, but the illustrations keep getting mucked up. As the cute little character Louie relates his story, different marks and messes interrupt: a splotch of jelly, a dollop of peanut butter, a smeary mess of pastel-scribble. Readers will love the photo-realistic blotches that deface the simple, cartoon-like scenes. They’ll likely have memories of things that have wrecked their own drawings. After a fit of creative frustration, Louie lies defeated, background illustrations turned blank: “This is Louie’s story. Who cares.” Throughout the book, simple text is enlivened with Louie’s own asides: “For in his heart, Louie knew everything was just . . . ‘What? Just what!?!’” Persistence in the face of setbacks is the message driven home to youngsters, when Louie recovers his spirit and the backgrounds return: “it IS a pretty good story, messes and all.”